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Of course, stores like Brookstone, with their vibrating footrests and talking golf clubs, have a way of turning even the slightly neurotic into quivering heaps of stupefaction. If you know from unfortunate experience that you’re better off shopping at home, check out the Web site of International Wine Accessories, a recommended link from Wine Spectator online. Here you’ll find a slew of nifty knickknacks for the oenophiles in your life. A novice, for instance, is sure to get a kick out of any of several educational tasting kits. Running from $30 to $500, these generally include an array of vials containing essences that correspond to aromas found in wine (good and bad; special fun can be had with the off-scents, from sulfur to burning rubber) and instruction booklets to aid the nose in training. For collectors and connoisseurs, corkboards ($20–$40) are cool tools for displaying souvenir corks. And wine albums ($30–$35) allow enthusiasts to keep track of favorites, with pages specially designed not only for organizing all pertinent information and tasting notes, but also for posting bottle labels (label-removal kits, meanwhile, run from $10 to $50, depending on their size). Of course, the e-catalogue’s luxury items will appeal to any wino, fledgling or seasoned. There are numerous plain and cut-glass decanters, some a bargain, some a chunk of rent; handsome crystal, pewter, and silver funnels ($30–$60); a two-bottle leather wine tote ($80); and a variety of personalized items — tool kits and corkscrews, labels and stoppers — for your Dionysian dears, who may forget their own names in the heat of revelry.

And as for you last-minute shoppers, we’ve got ideas for you, too. If your usual plan is to hit the liquor store on your way to the party, why not take an extra few milliseconds to explore the international section, and bring something new and unusual for your fellow guests to sample? With Turkish raki or Greek ouzo, Korean soju or Irish potcheen, you can make a splash (just be sure to ask the staff for advice, so as to avoid any nasty, not to say embarrassing, surprises). Any sizable liquor store, from Marty’s to Martignetti’s, will do the trick, but on a recent trip to Charles Street Liquors, we found a bevy of beverages worth a gift bow. Mead, for one, promises to put a slow and sensual spin on the evening, whether it’s made purely from honey, as is California-based Chaucer’s ($10.99); from white wine infused with honey and herbs, like Ireland’s Bunratty Meade ($15.99); or from a honey-whiskey blend such as Tower of London ($29.99). A good number of premium sakes stand out on the shelves with painterly, pretty labels and whimsical names, like the Ginga Shizuku "Divine Droplets" ($34.99), Mantensei "Star-Filled Sky" ($34.99), and Tentaka Kuni "Hawk in the Heavens" ($29.99). Such bottles are like poems of glass, graphic design, and liquid, conferring upon their bringer a sensitivity worth exploiting later on. (Look for the word "junmai" on the label as well, which ensures that what you’re getting is additive-free, containing only rice, water, and the traditional fermenting agent.) Other quirky finds include a cool-looking bottle — squat, violet-blue, and frosted — of Patrón XO Café ($23.99), a Mexican coffee liqueur spiked with tequila; and Amarula ($21.99), a South African oak-aged cream liqueur made from the marula, a sweet-tangy yellow fruit apparently loved as much by elephants as by humans. And there’s always the French herbal liqueur and cult favorite known as chartreuse ($46.99 from L. Garnier), a chic choice not only for its brilliant yellow or green hue but also for its back-story mystique. Touted as an elixir promoting longevity, it’s produced by Carthusian monks from a recipe so secret, even they don’t know it (that is, each knows his part, but none knows its entirety — though we do know there are more than 100 ingredients). One last suggestion: learn how to deliver a toast in the language of the nation whence your chosen liquor issues, as an added goodwill gesture. ¡Salud! Skoal! Here’s mud in your eye!

Ruth Tobias can be reached at ruthtobias@earthlink.net.